VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRLINES TRANSFORMS LOYALTY OPERATIONS WITH INRULE, CUTTING NEW PROMOTION LEAD TIME BY 63% AND BOOSTING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Key Stats
- 63% Reduction in Lead Time: Business rule deployment lead time dropped from eight weeks to just three weeks, enabling Virgin Atlantic Airlines to deliver new promotions and partner adjustments much faster.
- 50% Faster Rule Adjustments: Tasks that previously took an hour with Siebel can now be completed in 30 minutes or less using InRule, significantly improving operational efficiency.
- Elimination of Downtime for Rule Updates: With InRule, Virgin Atlantic no longer needs to take their loyalty system offline to deploy new rules. This prevents disruptions in points accrual, tier upgrades, and other loyalty activities, ensuring uninterrupted service for customers.
- Reduced Dependency on IT: Approximately 80-90% of rule changes are now managed by the Loyalty Operations team without needing extensive IT support. IT involvement is generally limited to complex new implementations or major system issues, saving IT resources and empowering the loyalty team.
- Faster Response to Market Demands: With the ability to duplicate and test rules directly in InRule, the Loyalty Operations team can more swiftly respond to requests from internal teams like product management and sales. This responsiveness helps Virgin remain competitive and deliver a high level of service to its loyalty program members.
About Virgin Atlantic
Founded in 1984, Virgin Atlantic is a premier British airline known for innovative services and customer experience. Based in the UK, the airline serves over 30 destinations globally, including routes across North America, the Caribbean, and Asia. Virgin Atlantic’s commitment to sustainability, modern fleet, and emphasis on customer care make it a preferred choice for leisure and business travelers alike. The company collaborates closely with its Flying Club and Virgin Red loyalty programs to offer customers a rich and rewarding
travel experience.
The Challenge
Virgin’s loyalty program is made up of several sister companies, with Virgin Red maintaining the customer’s Points ledgers and Virgin Atlantic’s Flying Club being the group that processes flights for points accrual. When Virgin Red launched and had to integrate with Flying Club, the two companies’ loyalty applications, Virgin Atlantic’s Siebel and Virgin Red’s Eagle Eye, were not compatible. It was decided that Virgin Atlantic would move its loyalty platform to Power Apps to allow communication between the two programs’ software systems. Siebel had a built-in rule engine, so moving off Siebel and to Power Apps forced Virgin Atlantic to look for a stand-alone decision engine product. To provide a seamless loyalty experience, Virgin Atlantic needed a robust business rules engine that could integrate with Power Apps and dynamically manage the complex rules for points accrual, tier upgrades, and promotions.
Previously, deploying new rules in Siebel required taking down the production system, risking service disruptions and potential delays in awarding points. Virgin’s Loyalty Operations team, a small, specialized group of three, managed these rules but found the Siebel system cumbersome, especially as each new rule deployment increased the chance of downtime. Faced with growing demand from customers and internal teams like the Flying Club and Sales teams, Virgin needed a solution that could support high-volume rule changes without requiring extensive IT involvement.
The Solution
To address the integration and deployment challenges, Virgin Atlantic turned to InRule®, an AI decisioning platform known for its seamless compatibility with Microsoft Power Apps. After an initial demonstration and proof of concept, Virgin Atlantic’s Loyalty Operations team quickly saw that InRule met all their needs, from supporting complex loyalty rules to enabling rapid deployment without production downtime. Impressed by the platform’s intuitive interface and powerful automation capabilities, the team moved forward with InRule without evaluating other vendors.
InRule’s platform empowered the Loyalty Operations team to take control of its rules management, reducing dependency on IT for most updates. With InRule, the team could now deploy, test, and adjust loyalty program rules directly, quickly responding to changes from partner companies like airlines and financial entities or internal teams like the Flying Club and Sales teams. The solution streamlined rule deployment, enabling the team to push changes live without pausing customer transactions or impacting service, ensuring consistent and accurate points accrual for Virgin’s loyalty members.
Virgin Atlantic also benefited from InRule’s duplication and testing features, which allowed the team to easily replicate rules for similar promotions or tier upgrades and test new rules within the system before going live. This flexibility was essential as Virgin’s loyalty program expanded, helping the team deliver faster, more accurate loyalty offerings while minimizing IT intervention.
Results
With InRule in place, Virgin Atlantic’s Loyalty Operations team streamlined their loyalty program management, enabling faster response to customer and partner needs. The team achieved a 63% reduction in lead time, cutting down rule deployment from eight weeks to just three. This improvement allows Virgin Airlines to roll out new promotions and partner adjustments more quickly, meeting the dynamic demands of the loyalty program.
“InRule has completely transformed how we manage our loyalty program, allowing us to implement changes faster and without disrupting service for our customers,” remarked the manager from Virgin Atlantic Airlines’ Loyalty Operations team. “The seamless integration with Power Apps and ease of use has empowered our team to take control of complex rule updates, helping us deliver new offerings and respond to market demands more effectively than ever.”
InRule’s integration with Power Apps has eliminated the risk of downtime, ensuring customers experience uninterrupted service. The Loyalty Operations team can now make rule updates live without affecting production, ensuring consistent points accrual, tier upgrades, and promotional offerings. This operational efficiency has boosted the team’s productivity, freeing up resources to focus on further innovation within the loyalty program.
We look forward to following Virgin Atlantic on its automation journey and finding new and better ways of working!
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